MXene coating on waste textiles for wearable electronics and thermal regulation

Transforming discarded textiles into more valuable products through upcycling offers a multi-pronged approach to alleviating textile industry-related pollution. In this study, we employed a facile approach to upcycling waste textile fabrics via MXene functionalization using a passive dip-coating process. The method is straightforward and versatile, producing a continuous coating on a variety of natural and synthetic textile substrates such as cotton, hemp, and nylon. Even with a minimal amount of MXene, the coated fabrics displayed sufficient conductivity, unlocking their potential for a multitude of applications including Joule heating, strain sensing, and infrared (IR) camouflage. The simplicity of this method provides an alternative utilization for fabric off-cuts and end-of-life garments in the production of multifunctional textiles for smart wearable clothing, potentially mitigating the expected scarcity of textile resources in the forthcoming decades. This study employed a simple and versatile approach of upcycling waste textile fabrics via MXene functionalization through a passive dip coating process, meeting the demands for materials that are both sustainable and multi-functional.